Checking a Bathroom Contractor's Registration, Plumber and Electrician Credentials in Washington

A kitchen or bathroom contractor's registration number tells you the company exists, carries a bond and has insurance. A bathroom adds a layer: almost every bath remodel moves or replaces plumbing, most add or change wiring, and older homes may raise lead and asbestos rules. Each of those has its own credential in Washington, held by a person or a firm, and each can be checked. This page sorts out who on a bathroom job needs what, as of October 2026, and how to look it up in a few minutes.

The credentials on a typical bathroom job

Washington separates registration from competency. L&I says the state "does not require contractors to pass a competency or skills test to become registered (though L&I does test and license electricians and plumbers)." That sentence is the key to a bathroom: the company is registered, but the people touching pipes and wires are individually certified.

The lead and asbestos rows are covered on their own pages: lead paint and bathroom remodels and asbestos in old bathroom tile and flooring.

Contractor registration, in brief

RCW 18.27.020 makes it illegal to "advertise, offer to do work, submit a bid, or perform any work as a contractor without being registered". As of October 2026 the required bond is $30,000 for a general contractor and $15,000 for a specialty contractor (RCW 18.27.040, in effect since 1 July 2024). Registration lapses automatically if the bond or the liability insurance is cancelled.

RCW 18.27.010 defines a general contractor as one whose work requires "more than one building trade or craft upon a single job or project or under a single building permit", which describes most whole-bathroom remodels. A specialty contractor, by contrast, "may only subcontract work that is incidental to the specialty contractor's work." For the full detail on registration, bond and insurance minimums, and what happens to unregistered contractors, see the kitchen guide's page on Washington contractor registration, which applies equally to bathrooms.

Plumbers: the credential that matters most in a bathroom

Plumbing is defined in RCW 18.106.010 as the craft of "installing, altering, repairing and renovating potable water systems, liquid waste systems" within a building. In a bathroom that covers the shower valve, supply lines, drains, the toilet flange and the vent piping.

RCW 18.106.020(1) says: "No person may engage in or offer to engage in the trade of plumbing without having a journey level certificate", or a specialty certificate, residential service certificate, temporary permit or trainee certificate, plus photo identification. L&I's plain version: "Only L&I-certified plumbers can legally perform plumbing work on someone else's property." The only exception is an owner working on their own home, covered in doing part of your own bathroom remodel.

Since 2021 a second layer applies to the business: a contractor may not employ a person to do plumbing unless the contractor is a licensed plumbing contractor under chapter 18.106 RCW. L&I says a licensed plumbing contractor must designate a certified plumber as its "dedicated plumber" and carry a $6,000 plumbing contractor bond.

Which plumbing certificate fits a bathroom

• Residential service plumber: in single-family dwellings and duplexes only, may "service, repair, or replace previously existing fixtures, piping, and fittings that are outside the interior wall or above the floor", and "may not perform plumbing for new construction of any kind" (RCW 18.106.010(11)). Fine for a fixture swap, not for rerouting drains inside the wall.
• Specialty plumber: includes installation, maintenance and repair of plumbing in single-family dwellings, duplexes and apartment buildings up to three stories (RCW 18.106.010(14)(a)).
• Journey level plumber: the full certificate.
• Trainee: may work under a certified plumber who is on the same jobsite at least 75 percent of each working day (RCW 18.106.070(3)(a)). Until 31 December 2028, the ratio is generally one trainee per certified journey level plumber on a jobsite.

Electricians and the electrical permit

A remodeled bathroom usually gets a new exhaust fan, new lighting, GFCI-protected outlets and sometimes a heated floor. RCW 19.28.161 says no person may engage in the electrical construction trade without a valid master, journey level, specialty or trainee certificate. The business needs an electrical contractor license, which RCW 19.28.041 says expires 24 months after issue and requires a $4,000 bond.

The person doing the electrical work buys the permit. L&I says: "Whoever is performing the electrical work is responsible to obtain a permit before starting the work. You cannot use a permit someone else has purchased." If a hired worker asks you to buy the permit, L&I calls that "against the law, and the permit is not valid."

Tile setters, handymen and other specialties

Washington registers specialty contractors by trade in WAC 296-200A-016. Two matter for bathrooms:

• Tile, ceramic, mosaic and natural and manufactured stone includes stone slabs "for bathtubs, showers and horizontal surfaces." The rule adds that this work "may also require plumber certification per chapter 18.106 RCW and/or an electrical license per chapter 19.28 RCW." Tile registration alone does not cover moving a valve or a drain.
• Handyman is limited to "minor and casual work of existing residential maintenance and repair" under $2,000 in time and materials, done personally without employees, and "Work requiring a building permit may not be done by this specialty." A permitted bathroom remodel is outside it.

How those provider types compare on a real job is in design-build vs big-box vs handyman.

How to check everyone in about ten minutes

1. Search the company in L&I's Verify tool at secure.lni.wa.gov/verify by name, registration number or UBI. L&I says it shows an active registration, an active workers' comp account covering employees, citations, lawsuits against the bond, insurance details and past business names.
2. Ask who will do the plumbing and electrical work, by company and by name, and search those too. The same tool confirms whether an electrician or plumber is certified.
3. Read the plumbing permit. RCW 18.106.440 says a city or county may not issue a plumbing permit for work by a contractor that must be licensed without verifying the license, and must print "the plumbing contractor license number on the plumbing permit". The City of Vancouver application has a block marked "Licensed Plumbing Contractor required per RCW 18.106.440".
4. Ask for the lead certificate if the house was built before 1978.
5. Call L&I with questions: contractor information 1-800-647-0982; the plumber program at 360-902-5207 or Plumbers@Lni.wa.gov.

JDI's numbers

JDI Construction's Washington contractor registration number is JDICOCN932KZ and its Oregon CCB number is 176101. Look us up the same way you would anyone else. If you would like to talk through a bathroom project, you can contact our Vancouver office or call (360) 309-9571.